Nicholas Bacon KC > 4 New Square Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

4 New Square Chambers
LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3RJ
England

Living Wage

Position

Nicholas Bacon is a leading silk in his specialised field of costs. He dominates this market with a hugely impressive bank of leading cases to his name.

2020/2021 has been no exception with two Supreme Court Cases: Ho v Adelekun [2021] UKSC 43 and Bott & Co Solicitors v. Ryanair [2019] EWCA Civ 143. Appearances in the Court of Appeal and High Court include: Belsner v Cam Legal Services Ltd [2020] EWHC 2755 (QB); Patourel v. BT Group PLC (CAT) [1381/7/7/21]; JSC Privatbank v. Kolomoisky Claim No: BL-2017-000665 £10 million pound costs claim involving use of new electronic bill of costs and requirements for compliance with rules, Part 18 requests in detailed assessments. VW Emissions class action [2018] EWHC 2308 (QB) (costs); Trucks Class Action (Competition Appeal Tribunal); Merricks v. Mastercard Cat 2019. Appellate cases include West v. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWCA Civ 1220; Herbert v. HH Law Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 527;  Budana v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1980 (the leading case on assignment of solicitors’ retainers), Gempride Ltd v. Jagrit Bamrah [2018] EWCA Civ 1367 (leading case on misconduct in costs claims); McMenemy v Peterborough & Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1941 (recovery of ATE insurance in clinical negligence cases post Jackson); Hislop v. Perde [2018] EWCA Civ 1726 (Part 36 and late acceptance consequences in fixed costs cases).

Other Supreme Court instructions include:  Coventry v. Lawrence (Bar Council) [2015] 1 WLR 3485; Wyatt v. Vince (costs) [2015] 1 WLR 1228; Marley v. Rawlings [2015] AC 157, [2014] UKSC 51.

Other significant Court of Appeal cases include Sharpe v. Leeds City Council [2017] EWCA Civ 33; Qader v. Esure Services [2016] EWCA Civ 1109; Ahmud & Co v. MacPherson [2015] EWHC 2240;  O’Brien v. Michael Shorrock and MIB [2015] 4 Costs LO 439; Kanat Assaubayev v. Michael Wilson & Partners [2015] CP Rep 10; [2015] PNLR 8;  News Group Newspapers in the seminal case of Mitchell v. NGN (“plebgate”) 2013 CA; Brown Quinn v. Equity Management, 2013 CA; Heron v. MTG, 2013 CA.

High profile clients include Berezovsky in respect of the multi million pound costs claim brought by Mr. Abromovic, Shell and BP Oil, and Newsgroup Newspapers in respect of the Voicemail Interception litigation. Nick was instructed to recover the costs in the failed Bernard Madoff Securities Int Ltd “Madoff” claim in 2014.

Career

Called 1992; Inner Temple; High Court assessor on costs appeals. Former Member of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Contributing editor to Halsburys ‘Laws of England’ (costs), Civil Courts Practice ‘Green Book’; Butterworths’ ‘Costs Service’ and ‘Civil Courts Precedents’; author of ‘Assessments of Costs under CPR’ (2001) and ‘Taxation and Assessment of Civil Costs’ (1998); co-author of ‘The Bar Handbook’ (2008-2014). Assessor to Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Fixed Costs.

Languages

French (working knowledge).

Memberships

Civil Procedure Rules committee, various Jackson Implementation committees; Bar Council Remuneration committees; Joint Tribunal (Bar Council/Law Society) on fee disputes; Bar Council CFA Panel; PNBA.

Education

Boys’ High School, Colchester; Essex University (LLB Law).

Leisure

Yachting.

Lawyer Rankings

London Bar > Professional disciplinary and regulatory law

(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3

Nicholas Bacon KC4 New Square

London Bar > Costs

(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1

Nicholas Bacon KC4 New Square ‘Suave and sharp in court, Nicholas will constantly work the argument to find a way, if at all possible, to make it chime with the bench. He is a force that you want on your side.’

Offering a ‘costs team that is second to none’, 4 New Square Chambers continue to be the pre-eminent set in this area, offering an unparalleled depth of expertise at both silk and junior level and regularly appearing on significant Court of Appeal and Supreme Court cases. Nicholas Bacon KC has recently acted in BSV Claims v Bittylicious Ltd and others, a major CAT class action and the UK’s first crypto-related collective proceedings, with the claim of collusion alleging to have caused close to £10bn in losses. In Belsner v Cam Legal, Benjamin Williams KC led George McDonald , with the pair successfully appealing to reverse the High Court’s decision that solicitors were subject to fiduciary duties when negotiating their own terms and business, entitling solicitors to deduct full reasonable costs from lower value personal injury claims. Both Robert Marven KC and Matthew Waszak acted in AKC v Barking, a significant test case before the Court of Appeal regarding the information bills of costs must contain in order to comply with CPR requirements. Theo Barclay, being led by Bacon KC, represented the Danish Customs and Tax Administration in the highly publicised SKAT litigation, where the costs bill in favour of the defendants on the indemnity basis totalled £46m.